Yellow Pages
Town has lost a number of businesses recently
LA CONNER — The solar panel hookups, cork-and-bamboo flooring, and stainless steel touches at the new Poplar Row building might not get attention among the many mixed-use developments in Seattle and other large cities. But in Skagit County, there is nothing else like it, developer Peter Whited said.
“We were trying to do as much green choices as we could,” said Whited, who developed the Morris Street property with business partner Jonathan Duckworth. “We are going to be using rainwater for irrigation. ... We pre-developed for solar power.”
The three-condo and three-commerical unit building just went on the market, with the residential spaces starting at $340,000 and the retail or office spaces starting at $319,000, said Jean Groesbeck, an associate broker at Windermere Real Estate of Anacortes.
Groesbeck and Whited say at those prices, businesses can buy for about the same monthly cost as renting.
So far, there is one business. Carol Whited and Julie Duckworth — the wives of the La Conner developers — are opening a children’s furniture store to be called Childhood Bliss Home Sweet Home. They already have a children’s shop next door, which will remain open, called Childhood Bliss.
But while modern amenities and the opportunity to own rather than rent may make Poplar Row unique in La Conner, the fact that it is still largely vacant does not.
Many waterfront shops along South First Street closed in the past few months, and the Tillinghast Seed Co., just one block from Poplar Row, has several vacancies.
“There is no doubt that La Conner has been experiencing some sort of a pullback,” said John Dunning, who owns the Tillinghast Seed Co. and Windermere Real Estate of Friday Harbor. “And I am not sure what to blame it on.”
Another children’s shop, Bunnies By the Bay, recently closed its Tillinghast Seed Co. location and consolidated into its adjacent store, the Glad Dreams Workshop.
“It has been hard this year to find replacement tenants,” Dunning said.
Whited, who began planning and building Poplar Row before the economy soured, still expects to attract businesses and residents.
“I am not concerned in that we are offering ours for sale, whereas, there is nothing else like that for sale,” he said.
A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at Poplar Row, 511 Morris St.
n Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at ewilson@skagitvalleyherald .com.
Read more local news in the Skagit Valley Herald and the Anacortes American, or read it online in the E-edition
